Home
Sitemap
My Blog
Awakening
OpenSpace
Child Abuse News
Write a Commentary
The Lighter Side
My Story
Statistics
C/A History
Emotional Abuse
      Types of E.A.
      Signs of E.A.
       Effects of E.A.
         - Bullying
      Stats for E.A.
Physical Abuse
     Signs of P.A.
      Abuse/Dis'pln
      Effects of P.A.
     Stats for P.A.
Child Neglect
     Signs of C.N.
      Effects of C.N.
     Stats for C.N.
      Poverty & C.N.
Sexual Abuse
      Definition S.A.
     Signs of S.A.
      Effects of S.A.
     Stats of S.A.
Sexual Abuse Victims
   Male Victims
     Female Victims
     V w/ Disability
  Disclosures
Sex Offenders
  Male S.O.
    Female S.O.
  Child S.O.
   Youth S.O.
   Incest S.O.
     Internet S.O.
Child Abuse Law
      Age-Majority
     Duty-Report
Intervention
Prevention
Stories of Healing
Child Abuse Stories
Exch w/ an Abuser
Visitor Comments
Letters from Readers
Link to this Site
Resources
FREE E-zine
Ask Darlene
Dating Violence
Privacy Policy
Site Search

Child Abuse Story From Jessica5 Part 3

by Jessica
(Pennsylvania, USA)

See Part 1 and Part 2 of Jessica's story on this site.

My parents made up that same day. He moved back in with us, and sold his house. We continued to live there till the end of summer. During that time, my dad decided that we could make a lot of money if he started breeding pit bulls. He bought a new pit bull and built them a small pen of their own in the back yard so they were separate from the other dogs. This caused a lot of fights. One of the pit bulls attacked the other and killed it. My dad tried to get the dog's body, and put it in a garbage bag, but the other pit bull tried to attack my dad. Me and my brothers were watching out the window. The pit bull that was still alive ripped a big chunk out of the dead dog's neck and ate it. For some reason, we weren't even fazed by this. The dead dog lay out there for a few weeks, while my dad was starving the other dog so that he could then distract him with some meat to dispose of the other dog. My parents then decided this dog was crazy, and instead of getting rid of him, they kept the dog in the pen in the back yard. Ironically, the dogs name was Buddy.

Another time, while my dad was there, and probably less than two weeks after the pit bull incident, my dad bought another dog. These ones got along a lot better, but it made Buddy extremely mad. He growled all day and attempted to attack the dog through his pen.

One day when I came home from school, I let the dogs that were kept in the house outside to go to the bathroom. The reason why some were left outside and some were left inside was because some of them didn't get along with each other. I shut the door, and I heard a dog fight breaking out. I looked out and I saw Buddy was loose and attacking one of the dogs from the house. I decided I don't care, I wasn't going out there. But my brother was upset because Buddy was attacking a dog that he was really attached to. He went outside and tried to pry Buddy's jaws open. My brother was about 9 or 10. Buddy wasn't letting go, so neither did my brother. I called for help, and my other brother came down. He was eating a bag of chips. He was about 7. He calmly went outside and dumped the bag of chips on the ground. The dogs stop fighting to eat the chips. The dog that was getting attacked ran into the house and pooped right on the floor about 3 times in a row. My brother that was trying to break up the fight was holding his hand. He'd lost the tip of his pinkie finger, about half an inch of it, but not the whole fingernail length. I was freaking out. I didn't know what to do. I called my dad's cell phone. He came home in about 20 minutes. They never took my brother to the hospital. His finger is still weird to this day.

As it turns out, not only did one dog get pregnant, but 3 of them did. They all had puppies around the same time. There were 44 puppies all together. The unbelievable part of the story is that my dad's get-rich-quick scheme failed, because one of the mutts got the pit bulls pregnant. My parents decided to put up a little cage in the kitchen, which was right next to the living room, to keep all these puppies in. My house smelled like a zoo, and the puppies kept dying. Eventually, there were less than 20 alive, They had to give them away for free, after feeding them for weeks.

One last thing that I remember happening is that a rat bit my brother's toe while he was sleeping. There was a lot of blood, and no one could take him to the hospital until my mom and dad both came home at around two. I didn't go, but he told me they gave him all kinds of shots and bandaged his toe.

That's when my parents thought it would be a good idea to move. I was in my senior year in high school. They decided that it was a good idea to move my whole family 80 miles away from where I grew up, into the country. I told them I didn't want to go, and that I wanted to spend the rest of my summer where I was. My brothers and I had no idea they were planning this. My parents had been looking at houses for months, and I had no idea. I was devastated. My parents were so excited that they didn't care. They let me stay in the old house for two weeks while they stayed at the new house. They came to get me and I was mad. I was 16 and a senior in high school. At that age, they ruined my entire world.

Darlene's comments to this "Child Abuse Story From Jessica5 Part 3" can be found below. If you do not see the comments I've written, please be patient, as there continues to be a system glitch—in spite of being posted and approved, some comments are not appearing live on my site. Jessica, I replied to your story June 11, 2008, comments titled "Severe neglect..." Keep checking back to this page if you don't see those comments yet. I thank you Jessica and my other visitors for your understanding while I work diligently at getting this malfunction resolved.

Email addresses, phone numbers, home addresses AND website/blog URLs in visitor comments are STRICTLY prohibited, and could result in being banned from making further comments on this site.

Comments for
Child Abuse Story From Jessica5 Part 3

Click here to add your own comments

Jun 11, 2008
Severe neglect...
by: Darlene Barriere - Webmaster

Jessica, your parents had their priorities all messed up; THEY were messed up. Neglect was a daily happening in your house, neglect that resulted in dire consequences for your brothers' health, and the emotional state of you and your siblings. As I stated in my last post to you: Treat yourself better than anyone ever has. Please consider the services of a counsellor, a professional who can help you with all the emotional trauma of your past. The fact that you remember as much as you do, the fact that you remember such vivid details and the emotions you were experiencing at the time tells me you would benefit greatly from such counselling.

Darlene Barriere
Violence & Abuse Prevention Educator
Author: On My Own Terms, A Memoir

Jul 08, 2008
You should be proud of yourself
by: Andrew

Jessica, what your parents did to you and your siblings is unforgivable. Issues, priorities, problems or otherwise, you kids were their priority and you deserve nothing less than a loving environment.

Congrats on taking that step to put it out there. I just did it myself (mine's awaiting approval) so I know how scary it can be.

Ultimately though look at what you survived! You survived third world conditions and ritualistic neglect, rejection and physical abuse! Look at how strong you were to survive that- look at how strong you are writing this.

The demons we all fight seem so epic- they seem so powerful and consuming, but the reality is that they're shadows of what we went through- we survived what we did, just like we, like you, can beat the demons! Noone can every take that away from you! Be proud of yourself- both the parts of you that got you through and the amazing and incredible person you'll see when you've overcome your demons.

Click here to add your own comments